Are coldsteel stainless steel fixed blades any good?

S

SBaker34

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Jun 16, 2010
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I like the fallkniven S1, A1 but for the price range I am really asking myself if its worth it, Coldsteel has many knives such as the OSS, SRK etc but are these knives going to be any good at all for anything but fighter knives?
 
Depends on which knife you choose.

The Pendleton Hunter and and Master Hunter are both good hunting knives.
VG1 has about the same edge retention as VG10.
 
Fallkniven knives ARE worth the money!

Cold Steel fixed blades ARE usually good, and many of their formerly AUS8 models (like the OSS & the SRK) are now VG1 San Mai at a very reasonable price.
 
I like the A1 but it's more money then I can spend so it is down to the RC-6 S1 and San Mai SRK then
 
AUS 8 is an OK steel. A couple of the guys I hike and hunt with are die hard CS fans and their AUS 8 knives seem to hold up just fine.

The older, Camillus made, Carbon V Cold Steel knives can still be found for decent prices. IMHO, those are better than the AUS 8 ones (and they were made in the US if that matters to you). I've got a Carbon V Master Hunter and it's excellent.

Between the RC-6, S1 and SRK San Mai, I'd go with either the Fallkniven (love VG-10 and convex knives) or the ESEE (excellent design, tough 1095 steel and one of the best warranties in the industry). I'm not saying the SRK is a bad knife, it's tough as nails, but I prefer the other two.
 
I really have had great success with the laminate VG-1 SMIII steel. The AUS 8 is quality as well.

SRK, Recon Scout, Master Hunter are all great general purpose fixed knives to name a few.
 
I'd go with the Fallkniven S1. A wee bit smaller than the other two, but less upkeep than the RC6 (and more comfortable in the hand, or so I've read), and a bit less of a sharpened pry-bar than the SRK.
 
GrinderMcgee said:
I really have had great success with the laminate VG-1 SMIII steel. The AUS 8 is quality as well.

SRK, Recon Scout, Master Hunter are all great general purpose fixed knives to name a few.
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How tough is the SMIII? I'm looking for something tough enough to carve.
 
Keep in mind that the Fallkniven's are laminated VG10 (same as San Mai 3 with a little bit better core steel). Yes, laminated steel is tough stuff for stainless.
 
I like the sheaths for the most part. The really inexpensive 4116 krupp stainless knives come with functional but thin and cheap feeling nylon sheaths. I like the carbon V nylon sheaths. I'm not a big fan of kydex in general, but if you're into that kind of thing Cold Steel offers a good kydex (conceal-ex?) sheath. The leather sheaths (ie trail master, recon scout etc) are pretty good traditional leather sheaths.
 
knarfeng said:
Depends on which knife you choose.

The Pendleton Hunter and and Master Hunter are both good hunting knives.
VG1 has about the same edge retention as VG10.
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vg10 is better then vg1.There are many threads explaining this..but thanx.
 
gine said:
vg10 is better then vg1.There are many threads explaining this..but thanx.
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knarfeng said:
Nonsense. I've tested them side by side. Have you?
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Gotta love it! :D People will repeat just about anything if they read it enough times.

I have no experience with VG1. And only a little with VG-10 (a few months carrying different enduras and delicas)

Don't mean to thread jack but....
Knarfeng, what kind of comparisons have you done? Were you comparing spyderco's vg-10 or another companies?
 
On a side note: Cold Steel really knows how to sharpen their knives. I have a new Recon 1 that is THE sharpest I have ever seen out of the box regardless of brand or price. This thing can widdle hairs.
 
My original statement was that the edge retentions of the two were the same. That statement was based on my own testing. I've not posted it in the testing forum yet. I suppose I'd better do so. Both blades I tested were measured at ~59HRC. In cutting manila rope, I could not tell the difference between them. (and I do a fair amount of manila rope cutting tests.)

I've not seen data, but based on the composition, I would expect VG10 to be superior to VG1 in corrosion resistance (because of the higher chromium and moly levels) and to have superior toughness at a given strength because of the cobalt and small level of vanadium. So, overall, VG10 likely has better properties.

But in edge retention I could not tell the difference between them. The last time I checked, Ankerson was saying the same after his cutting tests using blades made of the two alloys.

Most of the VG1 naysayer's posts I have read are from people who have not tested the alloys and who base their assessment just on the composition or on the fact that the VG 1 blades are on Cold Steel knives. Ankerson and I have both tested VG1 and we find it equivalent to VG10 in edge retention.
 
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